Sales Mistake #1: TRYING TO UP-SELL!

The “gift of gab” has no place in business today. There is no need for memorizing and rehearsing “come-backs” and pro-active “sales pitches.” After taking the time to understand one’s particular buying motives, your one and only recourse is to simply recommend what you feel is best for the buyer.

All the sales books I have read include a lengthy chapter telling how it will be in the interest of you and your pocket book to sell people up. “If the prospect says this…you say that. If they do that…you do this”. When they finally do buy “this”, you slide in a few “that’s”. Soundspretty manipulative if you ask me. I feel strongly that you should think less of yourself if you ever find yourself trying these tactics.

Selling people up is not a good thing, unless, of course, it is in their best interest for you to do so. The moral of this story: Don’t sell up. Sell right.

• You are the expert. You’re the specialist.
• Tell me what I need to know.
• Tell me what I need to hear.
• If I don’t ask the right questions, tell me what I should be asking.
• If necessary, put the right words in my mouth.
• If it costs more, tell me. I can live with it.
• If it costs less, I can learn to live with that too.
• At times, you will feel that the right thing to do is to “sell down”, or recommend a less costly item.
• Sometimes it will be correct to make no recommendation at all.
• Sometimes you may find yourself pointing your would-be clients toward the competition.
• If you need a slogan to live by, here is one you can take to the bank: DO WHAT’S RIGHT!

A sale for a sale’s sake is yesterday’s news. Your primary objective should be to strive to establish a relationship with your steadily growing customer base….based on trust. And this calls for honestyand straightforwardness, and time. If you or your boss find it difficult to swallow this advice, you are probably running your sales program from a script hand written by monks on parchment. Unfortunately, you are still in good company. There remains in our country a plethora of clowns (educated and non) who still demand buying their expensive gold plated watches with the money they have fleeced from customers who have a difficult time saying “no.”